A/N: I RETURN! And with a new fic, too. I know, I feel it, too: I'm putting way to much on my plate, but the ideas just keep flowing, and if I don't type them down, I'll never get around to them. This one has been floating in my head for a while (and in my computer's memory chip) so I decided, why not? I'm gonna put this in, too. So here it is, the mix of FFVII: AC and KH2. The beginning is my version of after the battle with Sephiroth in FFVII, because I've never played it, but I know Cloud wins anyways. (so cool!) Aeris is still alive, mind you, but Zack isn't, so that's how it goes. Have fun!


Advent Hearts

By: Reminiscent


Chapter One: Family

Twilight Town was peaceful. Twilight Town was safe. Nine close friends stood facing the sun. The battles were over.

"So," Tifa said softly, "You're going to stay here now?"

"Yes," her blonde friend answered. He slipped his hand into the brunette's standing next to him. "We can make a family now. A family that will be safe." The brunette smiled.

"Good luck to you both, Cloud," a red-cloaked man said quietly before jumping away over building with amazing speed.

"Thanks, Vincent," Cloud murmured. A cell phone rang out, and the black man flipped it open. After a moment's speech, he flicked back shut and sighed.

"Love to stay, but business calls," he said apologetically. Cloud nodded silently.

"Thanks, Barrett."

"Later, Spikey." Yuffie, the ninja, switched feet before letting out an aggravated, "Oohh!" and turning to her four friends.

"We have to get together some time!" she said suddenly, "I have the weirdest feeling that we're not going to see each other for the longest time!"

"I know I ain't," Cid suddenly spoke up, "Got too much stuff too build." He turned to the rest of them. "I'm buildin' a new ship. I'll give ya' the grand tour once I'm done."

"And how long will that take?" Yuffie pressed.

"Gimme two an' a half years, I'll have it done!"

"Two and a half years! I'm not waiting that long to see you again!"

"Shut yer gob, lassie!" What looked like a stuffed cat sat up from where it'd been lying limply on an extremely red wolf.

"What if I don't wanna?" Cloud shook his head and chuckled. Tifa leaned over in disbelief.

"Cloud, did you just laugh?" she asked incredulously.

"I think he did!" Yuffie cheered, "I'm funny!"

"Don't let your ego blow too big, kid," Cid said. He ruffled her hair and waved to the remaining six. "Bye, now!"

"We ought to be goin' noo, dontcha think?" Cait Sith asked his temporary ride.

"We ought to." The two were gone without another word. Yuffie made a face and stomped a foot.

"Well, then…then…then I'm gonna stay here! With Cloud and Aerith! We've been through too much to just suddenly up and split!" she cried.

"Thank you, Yuffie," Aerith said gently. Tifa pulled Yuffie into a hug.

"Don't cry, Yuffie. I was planning on staying here, too."

"Really?"

"You don't have to, Tifa…"

"No, I mean to." The last rays of the sun fell below the line of the horizon, and Twilight Town was shaded.

"Can you believe it's finally over?" Aerith whispered.

"No," Tifa and Yuffie said in unison.

"Yes." The three women turned their gazes to Cloud. His grip on Aerith tightened. He looked to them and smiled. "I've been waiting for this ever since the battles started. Now that it's over…I won't dread the sun coming up every morning anymore. Like I used to. Now…" Cloud looked over the sea and out to the beyond.

"Now things are all right again."


"Hey, did you hear? There are going to be a few transfers to the school from HB High."

"You serious? Isn't HB, like, really…really…"

"Prestigious?"

"Yeah! I mean, we're talking about Hollow Bastion here."

"Heyner, why do you even care?"

"What if they're snobs? Jerks?"

"I know what he's thinking, Olette. If they're jerks, he'll pick a fight with them."

"Heyner, you're terrible!"

"Shut up, Olette. Ahhh, school starts in three days! The summer went by way too fast." The girl, Olette, suddenly gasped.

"Oh, no! We haven't even completed our summer assignment yet!" Pence, a black-haired kid with weight problems, laughed and gave another lick to his sea salt ice cream.

"Blame it on Heyner. He's the once who kept telling us to put it off every time we tried to finish it."

"I did not! I just said that we had plenty of time to do it, and weren't having enough fun!" Heyner, a boy with messy blonde hair and a serious attitude problem, objected.

"Liar." The three looked to the entrance of the Usual Spot. Another bed-head blonde had come in, sporting bright blue eyes and a fifty thousand-munny smile. Thanks to braces that had just come off.

"Hey! You're braces are gone!" Pence said enthusiastically.

"Yeah, that's why I was late getting here. My teeth hurt like hell, but it's worth it.

"There's a mega watt smile the girls won't be able to keep away from," Olette teased.

"Whoa, Olette…"

"Oh, come on, Roxas. I don't have trouble keeping away from you, trust me."

"Am I that revolting?"

"You eat sea salt ice cream off the floor. Twenty minutes after it's fell."

"Sea salt ice cream is good!"

"You're disgusting!"

"You're a girl!"

"I'm glad we're aware of my sex!"

"Olette said 'sex'," Heyner chuckled. Olette's cheeks reddened.

"And you! You're so perverted!" The cheeky boy spread his arms and grinned, if not wider.

"Take me as I am, baby, just take me as I am."

"Don't call me 'baby'." Pence and Roxas snickered. Olette huffed and flicked her hair over her shoulder, with an impatient, "Boys!".


Far off, in a dark, cold, mountainous place, a chopper flew around the peaks of the range. The red head flying the machine tapped his fingers, waiting, against the arm of his seat.

'Any moment now,' he thought, and as if on cue, his leader's voice crackled into his headphones.

"Reno, the chopper," it commanded, obviously a man's voice. Reno smiled deviously and gripped his hands around the controls.

"Here we go," he said softly and headed into the depths of the mountain's valley. Clouds covered the chopper from visibility.

"Wha--what is that?"

"Who's there?"

Gunshots.

"Elena!"

Gunshots.

"Get...get out!"

"Shit..." The chopper manouvered away from the area and flew away, safely escaping, although empty-handed.


Roxas waved good-bye to his friends as he entered his home. It was a blue house, with crisp white trimming and a black roof. For some odd reason, the front door (and the door to the inside of the house from the garage) was painted black, while the garage door was a starch white. The blonde teenager kicked off his shoes and walked into the kitchen, smelling food. Sure enough, his mother stood at the stove making supper, her hair braided down her back. She turned, startled at the sound of the kitchen door shutting, and smiled as she gazed at her youngest child.

"There you are, Roxas. Supper's almost ready. Would you go tell your brother to come downstairs? I think he's up in his room playing video games with Riku..." Roxas rolled his eyes, and his mother laughed.

"They're always up there! Don't you get a little suspicious?"

"About what?"

"What they're doing! What if they're doing something other than video games?" The brown haired woman turned and waved her ladle menacingly at him.

"Roxas, do as I ask. I won't have you bringing up a possible explanation for Riku here 24/7 and devastating your father with it."

"So you agree with me?"

"About what?"

"That Sora's gay?"

"Three seconds, Roxas." He was a flash of black and white as he left the room.


"I'm going to beat you. I'm going to beat you."

"Shut up."

"I'm going to beat you."

"Shut the hell up."

"I'm gonna beat you, I'm gonna beat you..." The air fell silent, intensifying, before Riku stood, pointers stabbing the air, the controller falling to the floor. 'GAME OVER' flashed on the screen in red, and Sora sat on the floor, dejected.

"You always win...can't you just not play and let me win, for once?" the brown headed boy pouted. His best friend shook his head.

"Of course not, moron. Then it wouldn't be a fair win."

"But I would feel better."

"Trust me, you wouldn't." A knock on the door stole their attention. Sora sighed and stood, opening the door a crack.

"Who is it?" he asked begrudgingly.

"Me," came the voice of his younger brother. Sora opened the door a little wider.

"What do you want?" he wondered.

"Mom wants you to come downstairs," Roxas replied.

"Why?"

"Smell the air." Riku sniffed behind Sora, and then came up behind the shorter boy and sniffed again, closer to the door. Roxas watched the show of well hidden affection and rolled his eyes again. Sora was his brother; of course he would notice him and the silver head behind him.

"I smell food," said friend remarked.

"Well, no duh, Sherlock," Roxas scoffed, turning to head down the hall to his own room. Riku leaned over Sora to watch him go before looking at his friend.

"Do you think he knows?" he wondered.

"Yeah."

"Is that a bad thing?" Sora shook his head.

"As of right now, no. Let's go downstairs. I'm hungry."


The front door opened and shut silently, and boots thudded to the floor with a slight thump. Nimble feet carried their owner to the kitchen, and entered as quietly as they'd come into the house. The woman serving chili into bowls jumped as she felt muscular arms circle her waist and tug her against an equally firm chest. She smiled and set down her ladle onto the counter top, twisting in her captor's arms to give him a kiss.

"Hello, Cloud," she said slowly. The blonde man kissed her again and nuzzled his nose into her hair, inhaling deeply. "I didn't hear you come in."

"I wanted to surprise you," Cloud responded roughly, his voice soft, "I missed you, Aeris." His wife giggled softly and intertwined her fingers with his own, warm from making the hot soup.

"Your hands are cold. How long were you out riding?" she asked.

"I just came back from Hollow Bastion. I had a package to pick up."

"But Hollow Bastion is four hours away!" Aeris exclaimed, "Tell me you were at least wearing a coat." When no answer came, she sighed. "That's one way to catch a cold, Cloud." Cloud's arms tightened.

"I don't get sick," he said stubbornly, face still buried in the crook of her neck.

"No, you're just to stubborn. Let me dish up the rest of the chili and set the table. Then I'll get you some cold medicine."

"I don't need it." Aeris turned about in her 'prison' to face the pale, boyish face of her spouse, pressing her fingers to his mouth.

"Just in case," she assured before kissing him. Cloud pulled away from her, and wrapped her in a hug.

"I missed you while I was away," he whispered, "It made me wonder how I would live without you." Aeris gasped as his arms clamped painfully around her. "It...it made me very sad."

"Oh, baby, don't worry," she said soothingly, stroking his hair and pecking the side of his neck exposed from his high-collared sweater, "I'll be with you for a long time."

"Hn." Little did they know, the two were being watched from the slightly open door. Striking blue eyes blinked, and then averted from the sight.


A/N: WHEE! It's here. I hope you like it. I DO! Who's eyes were watching Cloud and Aeris? Could it be Sora...or Roxas? Even I don't know yet. If you're wondering why Yuffie and Tifa don't show up in the 'fast-forward to the present' part, it's because they stay in the area (near Twilight Town), but get different jobs, and fall out of touch. That explaines how Tifa and Yuffie have never seen Roxas and Sora before (in the next Chap.), but they can tell because Sora looks like Aeris, but with Cloud's eyes, and Roxas is like Cloud the second. XD Until next time! Reminiscent, the Half-Breed of Rejection.